Getting the first appointment from a new patient is not easy. And it is equally difficult to make sure that patients renew their appointments until they are healed. However, you are not going to keep all the new patients coming to get an evaluation. Some came out of curiosity, while others found one of your special discounts. However, there are ways to reduce the number of one-time appointments and keep patients loyal to a chiropractic practice.
What Makes Patients Stop Coming to Your Practice?
We detailed in a previous article the reasons why patients stop rescheduling their appointments. Most of these reasons have more to do with their experience while dealing with administrative staff at the reception desk and the lack of clarity in billing.
However, some patients may also come to your practice with unrealistic expectations concerning how chiropractic works. They believe you know how to push a magic button somewhere in their back and make the pain go away in one treatment session. For this reason, one of the key advice to keep patients loyal to a chiropractic practice is properly communicating to them how this therapy works.
Effective Tips to Keep Patients Loyal to Chiropractic Practice
Here are some simple ways in which you can keep your patients coming back, with full confidence that you can help them:
1. Show Them Before and After Scans and X-Rays
Many patients stop coming to a chiropractor not because they are unhappy with the treatment, but because they cannot perceive the benefit. Many problems that a chiropractor can heal are invisible, such as spinal subluxations or corrections of abnormal neck curvature.
For this reason, you should refer the patient to get new X-rays or scans done in the middle and towards the end of their therapy plan. Just looking at the side-by-side images of their spine is sufficient to keep patients loyal to a chiropractic practice until they are fully healed.
2. Educate Your Patients on How Chiropractic Works
Many people still do not understand what a chiropractor does. They come to your practice because a friend said it helps with pain and other health conditions, but they are not sure what you are doing during treatment sessions.
For this reason, you should take the time during the first appointments to show them exactly what their problem is and how your chiropractic techniques help them. Use the model of the human skeleton (which any chiropractor should have in their office) for a better understanding.
3. Contact Patients Who Stopped Coming for Appointments
You should not pressure patients with emails or calls, but every 6 months you should check up on former patients. Do not push for a new appointment, but rather ask them how they are feeling and if everything is alright with them.
You will be surprised how this simple gesture of courtesy will keep patients loyal to a chiropractic practice, even if they had considered giving up this type of therapy.
4. Create Helpful Workshops for Patients
One of how chiropractic helps is by teaching patients to improve their lifestyle by:
• Giving up unhealthy habits, such as smoking
• Eating a nutritious and healthy diet
• Being more active
• Learning how to warm up before they go for a jog or to the gym.
Workshops are extremely effective for teaching your patients stretching, warm-up techniques, and exercises they can do at home. It will take one to two hours of your time, but it will keep patients loyal to a chiropractic practice. Thus, in the end, you will gain much more than the time and effort invested in preparing and presenting the workshop.
5. Explain the Importance of Maintenance Check-Ups
Some patients believe that they can stop coming for appointments once you resolve a specific issue. However, those who suffer from degenerative conditions, such as ankylosing spondylitis, do not realize that they will start feeling the painful symptoms again if they do not come back for routine appointments.
It is hard to accept that there is no cure for a specific condition, but with compassionate and clear explanations, you can tell your patients that they can enjoy their life and keep the progress of their condition under control with maintenance check-ups. This approach will keep patients loyal to a chiropractic practice for a long time.
6. Remember Their Birthdays
You won’t spend a lot of money and time preparing and sending birthday cards to your patients. You may even feel generous enough to offer a special birthday discount. The benefits of this small cut to your current profits are many. Most importantly, you will keep patients loyal to a chiropractic practice for the long term and continue to enjoy revenues.
If you need help with marketing or office administration tasks, remember that the premium profile on our platform gives you access to Digital Patient Chart, the most efficient EHR software developed together with chiropractors. Sign up now!
